Tyndale Open Study NotesGenesis 7

every kind of clean animal: There were animals meant to repopulate the earth. There were also these ceremonially clean animals for food and for Noah's sacrifice after the flood (8:20–21).

This passage does not use the specific terms found in the rules about ceremonially clean and unclean animals given to Israel at Mount Sinai (see Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14:3–12). But the basic idea is the same. It could be that God explained it directly to Noah.

The number forty is often connected with times of testing, hardship, or judgment (see Exodus 16:35; Judges 13:1; 1 Kings 19:8; Ezekiel 4:6; Jonah 3:4; Matthew 4:2; Acts 1:3).

came upon the earth: See study note on 6:17 for more information.

See the study note on 7:2.

• on the seventeenth day of the second month: This specific detail gives the flood account a sense of seriousness. It shows that the event is presented as something that happened in history.

• fountains of the great deep: See 2:6.

• the floodgates of the heavens were opened: The great flood undid the boundaries established on the second and third days of creation (1:6–13). Other parts of the Bible describe God's judgment as undoing creation (see Jeremiah 4:23–26; Amos 7:4).

• forty days and forty nights: See study note on 7:4.

the LORD shut him in: This showed that God was in control. He protected the people inside the ark and punished those who remained outside (see also 6:16 and study note).

• the waters rose (literally waters multiplied): This is the same word used for the increase of humans and animals during creation (see 1:22, 28). Now, ironically, the story uses this word for the water that would destroy them.

• high above the earth: The Hebrew word translated as “ground” or “earth” appears eight times in eight verses (7:17–24). The great flood was now cleansing the earth, which humans had polluted.

every living thing: See study note on 6:17.